Business Intelligence Lowdown

High-Speed Data Processor From IBM

System z9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP engine), the new high-speed data processor from IBM, is expected to enhance and expedite data processing tasks related to customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and business intelligence (BI) computing processes. The data processor is built to work in tandem with IBM's DB2 database. Users of IBM z9 mainframes can upgrade to the zIIP engine for $125,000.  Biz Intelligence Pipeline reports:

The zIIP processor comes on the heels of other specialty processors that IBM has been adding to the mainframe, including the zAAP processor made available in 2004 for speeding Java applications. The zIIP specialty processor will be available before the end of the year, but IBM officials would not be more specific.

Analytics and Performance Management

It is difficult to draw the line that differentiates analytics from performance management in a call center. Analytics tools are usually integrated within performance management software, hence the confusion between the two. Analytics refers to the use of information from various sources to generate quantitative and comparative reports of past and ongoing call records. Performance management applies quality measures on analytics to derive quantitative information from them.

A report listing the number of calls, the people who attended those calls, the duration of the calls, and the customers who called, can be generated from the Automatic Call Distributor (ACD). Analytics can add an extra dimension to the report by combining it with sales figures and drawing parallels between the amount of time spent on calls that translates directly into increased sales. With performance management, call recordings can be analyzed and judged to gauge customers' responses and agents' performance. This information can then be used to regulate how calls are routed handled, and how service personnel are scheduled. 

Reporting, analytics and performance management can thus be visualized as three layers of the same application __ that of improving performance and reducing costs in a call center. If reporting has a single dimension to it, analytics is two-dimensional, while performance management is three-dimensional.

Another way of perceiving the difference between analytics and performance management is by looking at the user of the information generated from each application, says David Middleton of AIM Technology. Analytics generally provide the top management of the company with an overall picture of what is going on in the call center. Performance management on the other hand, is used to enhance the functioning style of agents who handle calls.

Though performance management does help in giving answers when analytics cannot, most vendors do not differentiate between the two. They are both types of business intelligence software that are being increasingly used to add value and quality to the call center, and integrate its operations with that of the enterprise.

Teradata Data Warehouse Heads East

ABN AMRO, the international banking services provider, will implement a data warehouse platform from Teradata, provider of enterprise analytic technologies and services, to support business development for its consumer businesses in Asia. The regional data warehouse (RDW) will first be rolled out at the bank's Taiwan branches, followed by those in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and China, to analyze customer revenue, monitor credit risk metrics, and handle customer relationship management (CRM). Data Warehouse Knowledge Base reports:

"ABM AMRO is deeply rooted in Asian financial markets," said Jim Brown, head of the Asia Consumer Client Segment of ABN AMRO. "To better serve our customers and fulfill the needs of the company's marketing management and risk control, we need a robust decision support platform. After a thorough vendor evaluation process, we decided to work with Teradata to deploy our data warehouse and CRM solution."

BI From Call Centers

Instead of just serving as customer service hubs, call centers are evolving as business intelligence gathering points. Quality monitoring technology and analysis tools are being leveraged to extract customer intelligence from conversations with clients.

Customer interactions hold a hoard of information about buying trends and competitive products and services. This information can be mined using speech analytic tools that map words and phrases to find the root cause of customer problems. Word and phrase identification implements can be used in conjunction with emotion detection tools to recognize and detect spoken and unspoken information about each call.

However, only only a minority of call centers use quality monitoring and business intelligence tools, as many business units are still separate from the centers that handle their customer service obligations. With the trend slowly but steadily gaining popularity, there will be more organizations joining those who are using analytics to generate more revenue.

Customer Data Integration

Effective data management is not that easily achieved, according to a Forrest Research report which states that even though 92% of companies surveyed believe that a consolidated and integrated view of customer data is vital to the success of an organization, only 2% of them have managed to successfully deploy what is known as customer data integration.

Customer data integration (CDI) is defined as the process of consolidating and managing customer information from all available sources. Customer contact details, customer valuation data, and information garnered through various interactions with customers are structured and organized to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date view of the customer database.

This aspect makes CDI a key element of customer relationship management. It is a business necessity these days to clean, manage, process, and maintain customer data because CDI projects, though technically complex, can deliver meaningful customer data to the entire organization.

aCRM – Poised for Rapid Growth

Datamonitor, the UK-based independent market analyst, has predicted that investment in analytical customer relationship management (aCRM) technology will grow from $2.3 billion in the present to over $3 billion is the year 2009. aCRM, a complex part of the business intelligence (BI) market, is defined as the active collection, concentration and analysis of data gathered about customers and their interaction with businesses. According to Tom Pringle, technology analyst at Datamonitor and author of the study titled “Analytical CRM”, growth is already at a high, stable level, a reflection of some maturity in the wider BI market in North America and Western Europe. Domain B reports:

However with confusion and lack of understanding among end users regarding aCRM and its uses, it will be imperative for vendors to educate enterprises across all verticals as to the aCRM function, its working, uses and benefits.

Smart Products and the Future of Business

'Smart products' are those that leverage intelligent, embedded microprocessors and the Internet to give customers greater satisfaction throughout the product lifecycle. Smart products use Internet-delivered services to personalise themselves to the customer. Since service becomes integral to the product, vendors of smart products provide help with tasks, answers to questions, helpful value-added services, or solutions to a technical problem. All this is done without disrupting their usage of the product. At the helm of smart products are vendors of traditional technology products. This trend will transcend traditional technology products, and almost all product vendors will eventually offer smart products. Embedded systems are creating increasingly sophisticated mobile telephone services. Embedded systems are enabling Internet appliances to make inroads in businesses such as hospitality, healthcare, financial services and education industries. CRM Today reports:

With today's increasingly sophisticated service software, vendors can create products that proactively update themselves with new features or head off problems at the pass via "self-healing." Products can opportunistically look for ways to help the customer work smarter or get smarter: for example, a vendor of small-business accounting software could provide built-in access to live experts that augment certain features of the product.

The Role of Web Services

Web services are applications that can be used via Internet, using protocols such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). They are published on universal registries called UDDI (Universal Description , Discovery and Integration). Why would anyone prefer Web Services over other distributed computing methods such as DCOM (Distributed Componenet Object Model) or CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), which are faster, thinner (binary standards) than Web Services? The answer lies in the fact that XML is universally accepted. That is why, using XML to send data across is much simpler than using any other technology for data exchange. CRM vendors prefer to expose their application functionalities through Web Services. This way, the integration with an existing system or developing a future system on top of the CRM system becomes simpler. It is easy to develop a Web-based application to access the data residing on the CRM database by accessing the data through Web Services. The CRM application's features such as the Pricing engines and the Marketing Optimizer Engines can be used by the web application. CRM Today reports:

Also unlike the traditional integration methods, Web services require both ends to support XML/SOAP. That requires the whole industry to be in sync with Web Services. Otherwise it will lead Integrators to build middle layers or Web services on behalf of the software vendors(Like building a web service to access your mainframe application - that you don't want to replace - and send SOAP/XML messages to the CRM application).

The Customer's Perspective

One of the prominent reasons for CRM project failures is limited or no input from the customer's perspective. When we are devising and conducting a CRM project, customer input is vital for success. Customers basically want value, convenience, and they want to be recognised and valued as an individual. To achieve this, break your CRM project into two categories - internal and external. Internal forces constitute issues such as business strategy, organisational structures, processes, people skills, technology and metrics. External forces are about customer experience. Value involves price, among other things. Convenience is about things such as providing transparency and and about offering customers the ability to contact you when and where they require, across channels. CRM Today reports:

The thing about convenience, the explosion of consumer technologies and the creation of an "always on" communication channel is that it puts greater strain on the bank or insurance company than on the customer. This is because ubiquitous access - and the expectations of attendant service levels - tends to be mostly one way, i.e. from the customer to the financial institution.

The Customer Loyalty Grid

On the Customer Loyalty Grid, there are four zones:

The Zone of Indifference - Here, the unstated expectations of the customer are not met. This includes all customer needs and wants that are basic to fulfilling the unwritten contract between you and them.

The Zone of Satisfaction - Here, the stated expectations of the customer are met. The customers tell you what is important to them.

The Zone of Delight - Here, the stated expectations, which were not really expected are met. The customer hopes for something, even asks for it, but really does not expect you to provide it.

The Zone of Loyalty - Here, an unstated and unexpected level of service is provided, making the customer loyal. Expectations are exceeded. In this area, use your expertise in in the particular product or service coupled with the customer's lack of expertise to provide benefits above and beyond what the customer is even aware. For this, you have to be very proactive in suggesting to customers new innovations that they can benefit from. Remember that there are no shortcuts to get to the Zone of Loyalty. It is important that you first conquer the other zones. CRM Today reports:

For example, airbags in automobiles when first introduced were an innovation that saved lives, but customers had no way of asking for this innovation, or expecting it, before it became known to them.

Maximize the Utility of your Contact Center

We tend to look at contact centres as simply service-oriented cost centres that deal with customers as economically as possible. These views are now changing. Contact centres can move from being sole service-providers to value-providers by capitalising on every contact made within the centre. The key focus areas having the most impact on bottom-line profits are maximising on customer contacts, and customer retention. For this, Customer Service Representatives (CSR’s) will have to learn the art of cross-selling. To be able to do this, they need to be aware of all the various products or services provided by the company. Remember that when customers are made to swing to-and-fro from one department to the next for information of different products, it becomes extremely frustrating for the customer. To avoid this, hold product briefing sessions at least once a week, maintaining that each CSR will be multi-skilled in order to serve as a one-stop point of contact for the client. Also, CSRs need to be able to close the sale. One way to improve sales closure is to improve their knowledge of competitor products. CRM today reports:

Sometimes all it takes to complete a sale is to compare your own products or services to that offered by your competitors. Most customers would appreciate your help in providing comparisons with competitive products – you’re doing their homework for them – provided the information given is 100% correct.

When You Want CSRs To Care About Customers

Smart companies know that people who care about who they are, what they do and what kind of contribution they are making; are the kind who deliver a quality level of service in an effortless manner, and require very little managing. However, such people form a very small percentage of employees. How can we increase the numbers of people who care? We can do this by creating an environment where people feel cared about, feel valued, and where their personal growth is encouraged and nourished. We tend to believe that we can deprive people of those basic human needs and then expect that they will care for customers. This is a flawed belief. For customers, all else being equal, they prefer to deal with someone they like and trust. They look for caring. Customers seek value, and there is a high emotional content to value. To give customers the experience of caring, create an environment where employees are treated well, and re-frame the notion of what it is that we are here to do. CRM Today reports:

Firstly, we define service as reactive, something that happens after something else goes wrong. There is a distinct possibility that there is a negative connection in the mind with the word service. And secondly, we don’t think of the delivery of that service as a career worth even mentioning to our kids. There is food for thought there.

The Two-Years-Later Scenario for CRM

Though CRM practitioners can build the Business Case behind a CRM implementation, they still often struggle for presenting a scenario for the future-state business vision. Helping the client and their customers truly picture in their mind the future-state CRM-enabled business is definitely a challenge. The creation of a detailed "Two-Years-in-the-Life" scenario can help the client to articulate that future themselves. The building of this scenario involves bringing together a small group of forward-thinking sales and/or service representatives from the current-state touchpoints, selecting a point of time in the future, and selecting a customer segment. Next, begin storyboarding on a whiteboard or with flipcharts. You can tell the story of multiple customer interactions, across either multiple touchpoints, or an agreed period of time. You can work through the two-year timeline discussing possible interactions or "acts" across a customer lifecycle. Develop a scenario for each customer segment. This approach provides a qualitative business case for CRM expenditures. Also, when you couple this approach with a quantitative business case, you generate a great cost justification. CRM Today reports:

Our experience shows us that, once the future-state customer experience has been articulated, executives will use it as a tool to champion the cause - at board meetings, shareholder meetings, and Marketing communications.

How Branding Works

Building a brand is a process that takes time. Research shows that objective product quality alone does not explain the reason for customers selecting or not selecting a product; other factors are involved. Though you can reduce the time it takes to establish a new brand, sustained repurchase, a sign of loyalty, is gained over time. When positioning a product, remember that a brand image resides not so much in the product itself, as in perceptions. Also remember that your branding efforts might actually destroy your product if you fail to live upto the promise. Brands convey an identity, a set of associations and an image that goes beyond functions or performance of the product. Most important, brands raise expectations - people perceive a reduced risk (in terms of quality variations) when opting for branded products or services. CRM Today reports:

(There is a lesson) In David Ogilvy's deathless phrase: 'The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife!' Over the years, she has been sufficiently educated to know that store brands or cash-and-carry sales are excellent value for money. The frills absent in the store brands are irrelevant to the use of the product, so that when push comes to shove, she can afford to do without them.

Relationship Marketing

Companies, such as banks, have progressed from treating retail customers identically to implementing the 80/20 principle - realizing that 20% of the customers generate 80% of the profit; and strategizing accordingly. Relationship marketing is grounded in the idea of establishing a learning relationship with customers. Building a relationship can create cross-selling opportunities. When deciding which customers are worth the cost of long-term relationships, assess their lifetime value. Look at their current profitability computed at the customer level, the tendency of those customers to stay loyal, and expected revenues and costs of servicing such customers over the lifetime of the relationship. Relationships that make the most sense for the company are those whose lifetime value to the company is the highest. That is why, when building relationships, you should focus on customers who are currently the most profitable, likely to be the most profitable in the future, or likely to remain with the company for the foreseeable future and have acceptable levels of profitability. CRM Today reports:

Discovering preferences transparently means that the marketer learns the customers' needs without actually involving them. For example, the Ritz Carlton hotel makes a point of observing the choices that guests make and recording them. If a guest requests extra pillows, then extra pillows will be provided every time that person visits. At upmarket retailers, personal shoppers will record customers' preferences in sizes, styles, brands, colors, and price ranges and notify them when new merchandise appears or help them choose accessories.

Advantages of Outsourcing Call Center Services

Outsourcing call centre services is a tempting option for many companies; and it looks like this trend will continue. There are many advantages of outsourcing call center services:

• Companies don't have to bother with the expense and hassle associated with setting up their own call centres
• Companies can do away with the learning curve of establishing their own call centers
• Companies need not build, integrate, install and maintain systems, or seek planning permission
• Companies need not recruit and train staff and bother with the high turnover
• Outsourcing reduces capital outlay
• Outsourcing also removes the upfront costs associated with providing a service in-house
• Outsourced specialists can afford to invest in the latest call centre technology, such as web-enabling and predictive dialling
• Ousourced specialists have the know-how for getting the best out of technology to produce a first class service
• Ousourced specialists have the experience and expertise needed to run a call centre; also in terms of "people" management techniques
• Ousourced specialists have all round knowledge and a profound understanding of telephony, including networks, automatic call distribution (ACD) and computer telephony integration (CTI)
• Ousourced specialists will be able to offer comprehensive advice, anticipating issues and identifying the most effective solutions

CRM Today reports:

For example, Kingston incontact's Call Centre Hotel offers companies a fully serviced high quality resource for short to medium term call centre facilities. Offering flexible contract lengths, the Call Centre Hotel provides a variety of options, ranging from the call centre equivalent of bed and breakfast to full board.

Tools for Moving Your Customer Care Team Towards Excellence

We all expect front line customer service executives to treat customers well. We get upset if they are unhelpful or disrespectful. As managers who can influence their behavior, we first need to put ourselves in their shoes and understand issues that make them behave the way they do. Observing excellent customer care executives shows that these people know that they are valued by their company. The manager makes it a point to let them know how important they are to the company’s success. Their managers also continually reinforce that message, by recognising what the executive does well.

To convert our mediocre customer service representatives into excellent executives, we must first change our attitudes that assign them a second-class status. This change can be initiated by you - the manager - who can give people the respect, dignity and value they truly deserve. You can make a significant difference to how your staff performs, in a number of ways. Show the representatives that they matter. Recognize and appreciate when they are 'doing it right'. When they seem to be running low on fuel, give them time to regain a good state - ensure that they get a chance to recover themselves. You can convince your management to resource enough customer carers to be able to give people people regular breaks.

Another important aspect is the environment. Be sure that the environment is pleasant. The 'physical' environment issues include natural light, fresh air, color of walls, ergonomic furniture, comfortable seating arrangement, pleasant plants and pictures, individual and personalized work-spaces, opportunities and spaces for interpersonal interaction. easy access to drinks and snacks, and a pleasant cafeteria. It is important to note that in spite of the physical environment meeting all these requirements, it is still possible that the ‘feel’ of the place is oppressive, affecting work quality. You can influence the ‘feel’ by being with the staff, and by encouraging people to have fun. Also, it is vital that you give them permission to be human. CRM Today reports:

Sometimes they will make mistakes. How we deal with these mistakes can either reduce or enhance the likelihood of it happening again. It happens: the useful question is not, ‘Why did you do that?’ but, ‘What can we do to have a more useful result next time.’

When Customers Return Goods - An Opportunity

Can companies benefit from returns, complaints, and unhappy customers? Christmas brings with not only hectic shoppers who make many purchases, it also brings a lot of store returns. And THIS is something that online as well as physical stores are not prepared for. They have buffer staff ready weeks before christmas to cope with the added volumes of shoppers, but post-new year, they can lose business as many call centers and stores remain understaffed in these weeks. If companies can look at these customers who come in for returns with a different view (as an opportunity to get the customers coming back for more business), it can benefit the company. Customer service representatives at the frontline should be able to record, as well as handle customer inquiries as they arise. Irrespective of whether their location - a branch location, or the call center; having accurate information in terms of background will ensure that issues are dealt with immediately and major problems do not go unnoticed or stay hidden from senior management and key decision makers. To be at this level of efficiency, all channels of communication need to be integrated, whether they are letters, faxes, or phone calls. All communication channels should be combined into one centralized system so that you can optimize customer relations and staff efficiency. CRM Today reports:

Comprehensive databases that store and log every contact, regardless of the communication channel, need to be accessible by every customer-facing agent who may take a call or inquiry. If customers are already dissatisfied, for whatever reason, and then have to go through a long process of identifying themselves (what they bought, when, where, and how much), they will not look any more favorably on the company in question.

Required Changes for Broadband Service Providers

For the broadband service industry, customer service and support will play a vital role in the growth of residential broadband service. If the service providers do not go in for scalable, flexible service and support, they will find it difficult to meet their revenue goals. To ensure continued added-value for end-users, service providers need not resort to a long deployment cycle that won't produce immediate cost reductions or revenue increases. Instead, they need to focus on their current most vital problem first. The strategy is to first solve the most urgent problem first, demonstrate the value, and go then on to the next problem. Formulate a plan that will deliver new benefits continually. The sequence could possibly be - automated installation; basic support content; alerts; assisted service; self-service; and integration with CRM, network management tools, and provisioning tools. The final step is to extend support to non-technical problems. CRM Today reports:

Customer dissatisfaction typically begins with provisioning and continues from there. In fact, some analysts estimate that about half of the customers are dissatisfied with their installation experience. The customer tends to find the ensuing service and support frustrating, because most providers currently rely on the classic Helpdesk model with telephone, email or, sometimes, chat. These methods absolutely cannot keep up with the industry's growth. On the telephone, hold time can exceed one hour. Passing callers to and from ISP to DLEC to ILEC exacerbates frustration and 'customer churn' rates are 15 per cent and climbing.

The Future of CRM in the Marine Industry

Today, customers expect to be able to get in touch the seller when they want, where they want, and how they want. And this expectation is spreading to industries that traditionally did not fucus on such CRM initiatives - the marine industry, for instance. The challenge for consultants is to make industry leaders understand the power of proactively recognizing customer needs. They also need to understand the importance of having the ability to build on an existing customer relationship with effective CRM capabilities. Customers want different employees working for the service provider to be able to recognize, or get alerted to opportunities in which the customer is interested (e.g. a children's sailing program, for a customer who has little children). Customers are looking for a compelling customer experience where they get the opportunity to choose from several touchpoints and channels when dealing with the company, and in researching their options. Consultants need to be able to make marinos see that the customer experience needs to be so good that in spite of having options of several competing providers for the services he needs, the customer will remain loyal to the company in question because he recognizes that the relationship is founded on a keen understanding of his service and channel needs. And then, the customer's relationship with the marine company will grow in strength, just as it evolves in breadth. CRM Today reports:

Customers will greatly appreciate knowing what it will be like to do business with the company in the future. In fact, customers who are on the verge of defecting to a competitor who offers the latest whizbang touchpoint technology may decide to change their mind if they see that their existing service provider is, in fact, planning to deliver the same technology eventually.

Evolve Your Self-Service Strategy

Customers often find self-service applications to be inconsistent, and providing limited opportunities for transactions and interaction. For creating successful, usable applications, you need to create a strategy for self-service contact that is driven by both customer and business requirements. First of all, get your web and IVR teams together and do their research / homework about self-service. The strategy team should include members who are responsible for all self-service applications (web, IVR, email, kiosks), technology, and marketing resources. Also include in the team people from the contact center - they will provide customer and call flow expertise. Next, define the objectives for your self-service strategy. Make them measurable. Identify opportunities for moving high-volume, low-complexity contacts to self-service channels. Another important aspect of the strategy is to map self-service applications to the most appropriate channels. Focus on having 'quick hits' on the IVR, and more complex applications on the web. Experiment with speech recognition - figure out if it can deliver advantages beyond what touch-tone can provide. You need to focus on creating consistent user interfaces across all channels. For instance, ensure that the activities are worded similarly across channels. CRM Today reports:

Develop cross-channel marketing and branding so that self-service looks seamless to your customers. They should have a similar experience regardless of whether they use the IVR, the web, or send an e-mail – that means that you use greetings, logos, graphics and tag lines consistently across all channels. Develop a security strategy that’s consistent across channels, too. Don’t make customers remember different user IDs and PINs for different channels. And don’t require folks to identify themselves if they’re only looking for general, non-secure information.

Accurate and Real-Time Information - Top Customer Priority

There are different levels of complexity as far as personalization is concerned. Personalisation in the B2B business would mean personalising everything. It is important that personalised data should be correct, and also available across channels - since the customer may choose any channel of communication. This data also needs to be correctly updated across channels. Especially important to the customer is live data such as the status of an airline ticket reservation. This kind of data is often not available in real time and the customer is told that the data is not available at the moment. This does not enhance the image of the company in the customer's eyes. It is therefore important that all systems and data are available at any time to the front-end ‘touchpoint’, irrespective of whether it’s a WAP phone, call centre or website. Customers want the right information straight away. They also want to be able to do business using whichever means they prefer. Also, customers expect the customer service staff to know what they need to know. Customers do not necessarily want a ‘relationship’ with most businesses they deal with. They also do not want irrelevant offers and inapplicable junk mail. Customers do not appreciate having to give the same information twice, and to have to correct a sales or customer service person. CRM Today reports:

This ability to personalise all channels is being dubbed ICRM (Interactive Customer Relationship Management) by various commentators, and also includes features like accurate "smart" databases that suggest answers to frequently asked questions, tools that facilitate good response time to customer queries and the ability to interact smoothly (as though in person - e.g. voice-over-IP in addition to chat). ICRM also covers software which pre-emptively examines a web-users ‘cookies’ – information about web habits and interests – to predict personal traits and preferences.

Customizing IT investments in Sales and Channel Management

There is a need to customize the IT investments in Sales and Channel Management. CPG organizations are struggling in the markets to increase top line growth and sustain margins. Also, it is important to leverage the capability of IT to increase their execution capability, and accuracy of their operations. The IT investment strategy in CPG organizations should focus more on solutions for sales and channel management. Keeping in mind issues such as the multi-layered reach to the consumers, the relatively mixed demand signals received by the manufacturers, and the relatively longer lead times; IT solutions for sales and channel management should be a major focus area. The aim should be to enable differentiation in the market. IT investment trends imply skewed spends on enterprise applications like SAP. CPG organizations should understand the unique and independent IT investments they will have to make for sales operations for a particular region or geography. Proactive partnering of manufacturers and retailers or distributors is the key to success. This will help achieve the dual and important objectives of higher customer service levels at lower costs and greater accuracy. CRM Today reports:

In a highly competitive CPG Industry, where a plethora of brands are cluttering the market and consumer choices, a key source of competitive strength is the degree of execution skills possessed by the on-ground sales force. This is more critical for impulse products and perishables in which shelf availability and in-store merchandising can drive consumer preference and hence consumption. Hence facilitating on-ground decision making becomes a critical factor in establishing a CPG organization’s effectiveness at the Retail POS. In this regard, mobile handheld devices and sales portals are effective solutions being piloted by many companies to make their sales force more agile and enable real-time decision making.

Consistent Interactions for Customers

A company's ability to track a customer across multiple channels is one of the greatest challenges, since it is a data/knowledge issue. Different types of information exists in many different systems, in many different departments. It is possible that a customer first logged on to the company's Web site for an issue resolution, and not finding the solution there, then had to call up a call center. If these interactions could be tracked, then it could help the company to provide a personal customer experience in the future, based on the insights gained. It is important for companies to realize that consumers want to be treated like individuals. It is therefore important that businesses integrate the customer information across channels to start delivering relevant and valuable experience at every customer touch point. People prefer to do business with companies that understand their history, needs, and preferences, and that deliver relevant information. Customers prefer that their interactions with a company are consistent, irrespective of whether they're looking at a Web site, making a phone call, or visiting a physical location. For these expectations to become a reality, companies have to effectively use all of their customer information, wherever it resides, in developing engaging customer experiences that earn their loyalty. CRM Today reports:

Companies need to provide a multi-channel, multi-touch, guided experience throughout the entire web and email marketing, sales, and service lifecycle. This kind of customer experience builds stronger relationships between companies and their customers. It lets companies personalize their interactions with customers in ways that guide them to desired outcomes, such as completing an online transaction, making an incremental purchase, or accessing mission-critical information.

Implementing CRM Processes in a Small-Size Company

How is the implementation of CRM processes different for small or medium-size companies as compared to large companies? Though the basic principles remain the same for both, the greatest difference is scale. The decision-making process is usually more speedy for the relatively smaller organizations due to the fact that there are fewer issues in the decision-making. As a result, gaining consensus around strategy, process changes, and implementation priorities is less complicated. Also, issues regarding integration and data quality are fewer. This also reduces the time required for implementation. This does not mean that CRM implementations are easier in middle market, or smaller companies. It simply implies that the degree of complexity is possibly lesser. CRM Today reports:

It is imperative that the smaller companies still focus on getting the fundamentals right. Namely, defining a CRM strategy with clear business objectives and priorities, establishing strong executive sponsorship, actively engaging the key business stakeholders, and focusing on organization change management from the beginning to address user adoption issues early. All of which must be done before launching into implementing CRM technology.

Choosing Between 'Best-of-Breed' and Suite Solutions

When you have to decide between a best-of-breed CRM application and a suite solution, base your decision on the following:

• How will the users adopt to the new solution? Identify a solution that fits your business. Also ensure that you Will be able to configure or customize the application to suit your specific needs.
• What about legacy systems and integration requirements? In evaluating best-of-breed vs. suite application solutions, consider the existing technology infrastructure. Ensure that your existing systems can be integrated with your chosen solution. This helps minimize implementation and support costs for your project.
• How flexible is the solution that you are considering? Your CRM solution should be flexible enough to accomodate the changing business needs of your organization over time.
• Ensure that you are aware of the difference between desirable features (nice-to-have) and 'must-haves'. Keep the must-haves in mind as top-priority, and don't compromise in matters of functionality. CRM Today reports:

When evaluating any solution, it’s important to first analyze current and anticipated business requirements, and build a strategy based on these needs. It’s important to obtain the right balance between depth of functionality, product flexibility, and integration costs. By carefully considering your environment and evaluating solutions against realistic benefits, you will ultimately find a solution that meets the needs of your organization while maximizing the company’s financial health.

Include the Email Campaign for an Integrated Marketing Campaign

Currently, marketing has a tendency to isolate email, and not include it in the integrated marketing campaign. However, they are now discovering that an email campaign which is completely integrated into their existing systems and strategies tends to be far more effective than a standalone campaign. It is also possible for marketers to gain greater insight into their campaign performance via the reporting capabilities of an email solution that is coordinated with the entire marketing strategy. It is vital to maintain consistent messaging and brand image in all aspects of the campaign in every channel for the CRM strategy and also for the overall marketing strategy. Accordingly, email campaigns must follow the same standard, in order to be effective. CRM Today reports:

Working with external data through APIs and open standards like SOAP is a must for effective integration. ESPs have generally been good at importing lists, however it will become increasingly important to be able to move data back and forth between CRM applications and email marketing solutions to deliver seamless campaign management and reporting. In addition, integration with third party vendors including RSPs (reputation service providers) and MTAs (message transfer agents) will be mandatory to deliver the best performing email campaigns.

Outside-In Technology

If they hope to become more effective, B2B web sites must learn to quickly educate visitors on complex products and services, answer their specific questions, and help them articulate their unique issues and requirements. To achieve this, eMarketers need to replace the two-dimensional static option with more three dimensional point and click product descriptions that let users get as much detail as they need without losing context. Conventional web personalization techniques are based on an 'inside out' philosophy, were the underlying assumption is that the technology is smarter about what the visitor needs to see than the visitor is. As opposed to this, the concept of 'outside in' personalization is based on the idea that people are smarter than software and they need to be given the ability to personalize their experience of the way they interact with the site. To achieve this level of real time personalization, B2B eMarketing companies need create web content that is easy to navigate without losing context, quickly answers a prospect's questions, educates the user on the uniqueness of their offerings, aligns the prospect with their position and influences them to take action, and gathers as much information as possible about that specific prospect. CRM Today reports:

It is a well-known fact that when a person is in control of an interactive content medium, they are more receptive to the content, and are able to absorb and understand vast amounts of information very quickly. We have been conditioned over the past several decades to engage electronic mediums by clicking a control or navigation device. So, when we click a mouse, for example, we are actually preparing our mind to rapidly receive and process new information.

Customer-Facing Applications

Over time, CRM has come to refer to a lot of functions. Essentially, two dimensions of CRM technology emerge - customer-facing applications and company-facing applications. So, is CRM the customer-facing applications of customer service/support and sales, or is it the back-office applications of customer data interpretation? Customer-facing applications are those that customers actually experience. Sales Force Automation, Customer Service and Support, and Marketing Automation fall in this category. Activities such as gathering customer data, analyzing that data, formulating a strategy based on the analysis in order to recognize customer value, and taking action based on the strategy are company--facing activities, that can also be called 'Customer Intelligence'. CRM Today reports:

The line between customer-facing and company-facing applications is very blurry, however. This is because the customer-facing products are typically the solutions used to gather customer data (from call center databases, contact managers, etc.) and, similarly, the action taken as the fourth step of the CI process is usually delivered via customer-facing systems (offers in a campaign, new loyalty programs, etc.).

Mailing Tips

Nobody likes junk mail; and it is important to ensure that no one on your lists ever feels like they are getting junk e-mail from you. So how can you effectively leverage your database of e-mail addresses without upsetting people? First of all, identify all the email addresses that are present within your organization, that have been collected from customers. Then find out if customers are segmented into particular categories. See if any other type of categorization makes better sense - geography, previous purchasing behavior, or age. If you present the right message on your website, users can be enticed to leave valuable information about them with you. But remember not to trick them into receiving unwelcome emails. Some ways of getting visitors interested in your e-mail database include monthly free giveaways that are sent out via e-mail, grand prize sweepstakes and most importantly, valuable information. Also remember that trying to manage an e-mail database of any size that is not automated is not practical. Make sure that the subject line is compelling enough to get the message read. Also, the message must be personalized. CRM Today reports:

Also, whenever possible, point people to exactly the place in the site you want them to visit. If you leave having to navigate the site up to them, they may never actually make it to the pages you intended.

Customer Expectations

Within a decade, being accessible to the customer has come to mean far more than having a call center, a toll free number, some reasonably well-trained and well-equipped agents, supported by reasonably thoughtful processes. Now, multiple channels of access (telephone, email, Internet, etc.) 24/7 operations and one-stop shopping have changed the face of the customer contact domain. The most challenging aspect of managing customer loyalty will be to provide customer contact services that satisfy rapidly changing consumer demands. The fundamental customer expectations include being accessible, being treated courteously, and wanting you to be responsive to what I need and want. Also, they want their needs to be met promptly. They don't want to be made to feel that they are dealing with poorly trained and ill-informed employees. They want to be told what to expect. They also want the company in question to meet their commitments and keep their promises. Customers expect you to do it right the first time; and to follow up. Customers expect you to be socially responsible, and ethical. CRM Today reports:

"Tell me what to expect;" "meet your commitments, keep your promises" and "do it right the first time; follow up" are issues that are inextricably interrelated. Consumers seem to live by the mantra, "trust but verify." I'll trust you as an organization to the degree that I know what to expect, you meet your commitments, do it right the first time and follow up as necessary. Real-time, online information on shipping, account status, and clear explanations of the impact of any changes in terms or conditions are more than information; they assure me that you are keeping your end of the deal.

CRM and the Mutual Funds Industry

Implementing CRM involves giving your customers choices, making it easy for them to conduct business, storing all collected information in the customer database, and treating customers differently based on their values. Doing this results in increased customer loyalty and retention, since it makes the customer feels respected and cared-for. It is relatively simpler for no-load mutual fund companies to implement CRM programs, since they are in direct touch with the customer group. The implementation of CRM becomes more complex for fund groups sold through intermediaries. The primary customer here becomes the intermediary, and not the end-customer. It is a known fact that intermediaries prefer to prevent interaction between suppliers and end users. This has become difficult to do in the digital age, as consumers have grown to expect internet interaction with their suppliers, at a minimum. Intermediary relationships are being strengthened by offering value added services in areas such as Customer Business Development, Sales Force Efficiency, and Customer Handling. CRM Today reports:

A major impediment to shareholder relationships is that many mutual fund companies do not know the identity of their customers sold through certain brokers and fund supermarkets. You can begin the relationship building process with those customers that are identifiable. As long as the intermediary's relationship with the customer is respected, customer identification and understanding can be managed collaboratively by supplier and intermediary so that both parties, and the customer, benefit.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing involves understanding and measuring customers preferences, and using that knowledge to grow relationships. Now that companies are looking for measurable results for the money that they spend on advertising dollar, direct Marketing is growing. Direct marketing is about quantifiable, proven response. As a result, direct marketing takes on more importance when C-level executives are scrutinizing every penny of outlay. Experts predict that in the future, direct marketing is likely to become more powerful. When companies understand the huge potential of their customer databases, they will look to capitalize on those. CRM Today reports:

As more and more companies understand the enormous promise contained in their customer databases of customer transactions, they will turn to direct to deliver on that promise.

Survey Channel Slamming

Survey Channel Slamming is one flaw that can be easily avoided. When quantifying customer satisfaction, we must not inadvertantly create dissatisfaction by making customers go through a different contact channel to measure service. If your measurement strategy is to reflect your mission to be customer-focused, then you should be sure to use the customer-selected channel of communication. Failing to do so results in Survey Channel Slamming. One reason why contact centers provide multiple points of access is to improve the success of the interaction. Multi-channel integration is is the new reality for contact centers. Providing several channel options for the customers shows that we are in touch with their desire for high-, medium- and low-touch customer service interfaces. All PM reports:

If you can’t randomly sample from each channel, then don’t measure at all. Invest your research budget into a program that yields results that are worthy of your management team’s attention, one that is statistically viable. Your Return on Investment (ROI) will be significantly higher even though the initial investment may be slightly more.

The Truth About Low-Cost Customer Interactions

A solution that employs multiple self-service channels effectively allows the company to free up support staff to deal with the more complex customer problems. Self-support solutions can e as good as the type of support response delivered by human interaction. This also eliminates frustration on the part of the cusotmer. However, in order to benefit from authmated support, it is important to find the appropirate service channel that delivers the high-value service associated with live support. Lower-cost service channels that cost pennies per interaction resolve routine interactions through FAQs and search engines are deployed to resolve repetitive and generic customer service inquiries. When self-service is not the solution to an enquiry, higher-cost methods such as attended e-mail, on-line chat and live telephone conversations are employed for further assistance. Remember to draft the FAQs and search data in a manner that the customer can understand it easily. Many companies make the mistake of using language that is familiar to the company, but makes the customer feel lost. CRM Today reports:

Calculations involving the total cost of ownership (TCO) for self-service tools seldom take into account the hidden costs of brand degradation and increased per incident session times. If they were, the true cost of FAQs and search techniques would be far greater than most companies believe.

Thinking About the Customer

Though everybody agrees that the customer should be at the center of every business strategy, practicing this belief does not happen as readily. It is common for businesses to make decisions without the customer in mind. This is because thinking about the customer is not a natural function of many businesses. The processes of delivery, and promoting to the right people, are complex processes. Though customer care professionals have been at the receiving end of of bad customer service where they perceive that the company in question does not take care of them, yet they do not take this learning point back to our business in order to improve it. Customers around the world have become more sophisticated, and have the power to compare price, buy abroad, buy directly or online, travel more and shop more. Though marketing strategies include research numbers and focus groups, marketers often have a warped view of the customers’ true behavior. CRM Today reports:

Marketing as a discipline has changed in the past 100 years, and not always for the better. Some of the marketing books from 60-plus years ago seem to have been more in touch with customers than the discipline is today. It also feels that marketers understood better their role in the growth of the business.

About Customer Loyalty

In the last decade, companies have made it more difficult, more confusing, and more frustrating to deal with them than ever before. And then they say that customer loyalty is dead. They give the best offers to the new customers (as opposed to existing customers); the phone calls are automated, and queries take forever to be addressed. While these companies pay big bonuses to senior managers, those who actually service customers and the customers themselves do not experience any of these benefits. In fact, customers are charged fees for the privilege of using their services. Why, then, should customers be loyal and not go for the best offers elsewhere? Just like women are no longer willing to tolerate unacceptable behaviors from their husbands (such as being taken for granted) and make their husbands prove that they are worthy of the woman's love and commitment (else they will lose them), customers too CAN be loyal even today, but the company has to prove that it is worthy of that loyalty.  Customers are now rather selective to whom they pledge our loyalty. Customer loyalty is given only to those companies that earn it and keep earning it by delivering value and positive experiences on a consistent basis. Studies show that it costs around 30 times more to get new customers than it does to maintain the ones you have. It figures that it is far more affordable to retain existing customers than to keep replacing them. Most organizations do not have a strategic plan for keeping customers, keeping them happy OR keeping them coming back time and time again with their money and with referrals. Referrals means that you get a new customer without spending a dime. CRM Today reports:

It's about emotion. Loyalty is an emotional attachment to a company based on the customer's subjective perception that the company is delivering the value they desire or need, when and how they need it. It's based on their needs, and it's based on their experience of doing business with us. As a customer myself, I know that the companies I chose to give my loyalty to are those that make me feel good about the whole experience of doing business with them.

Use CRM As An Employee Energizer

YOu can use CRM as a powerful motivator for high performance. First, realize that people do not make mistakes deliberately, and that inherently, people want to perform - and perform well. The need for achievement and success is innate in human beings. However, mistakes are a natural part of learning. To increase the energy level in your company, celebrate the wins and successes, and also the mistakes and failures of employees. What is it that makes people find the energy, motivation and stamina to participate in activities that they really enjoy? The key words for this energy that is not apparant in the workplace is the fact that when they indulge in voluntary recreational activities, they are having fun, they are in control of their own behaviors; and they gain intrinsic satisfaction from their performances. External rewards and incentives are not required for these activities, because the motivation is internal. Since making CRM work is the lifeblood of any organization, it is wise to incorporate the fun elements of the voluntary activities into the customer service executive's work, so that they gain intrinsic satisfaction from their work. The work environment should be positive and should promote motivation, appreciation, communication, information, education, empowerment, and inspiration. CRM Today reports:

Empowered employees act like owners, so they won't do anything that would jeopardize your company. Give them the freedom to act, and they will be energized and motivated by the control they have over their own performances. Also, give them the information they require that is in your CRM system and they will go beyond expectations to serve, satisfy and maintain customers.

How Supply Chain Management Fits In With CRM

When CRM systems are linked to supply chain management (SCM), retail executives will gain deeper insight into the relationship between customer demand and the business processes used to develop and deliver products. Linking CRM, SCM, and other data repositories lets companies create a more meaningful link between customer data and business processes. With availability of SCM data, the customer service representatives can can use customer segments and profiles to impact decisions and operations throughout the business, from the purchase of raw materials and the structure of the supply chain, to product pricing and new retail locations. This, in turn, leads to greater efficiency by eliminating redundancy, time, and costs. Companies can also use this valuable link for competitive differentiation in the form of product mixes and marketing strategies that target the right consumers at the right locations at the right time. CRM today reports:

Understanding the relationship between customer profiles and individual store assortments enables manufacturers to adjust capacity to ensure producing the right products with the right characteristics (size, features, configuration, etc.) for the right customers at the right time. Once the CRM link is established, manufacturers can have a direct hand in enhancing the consumer shopping experience.

Higher Level of Customer Service

Pre-scripted calls, though meant ensure good customer service, sometimes end up creating unnecessary hurdles in the way of the customer representative providing assitance to the caller. Customer representatives tend to not realize when they are telling the customer that s/he is wrong, simply because the particular data does not reflect on their database. Instead of alienating and irritating the customer by saying that the customer is wrong, the rep could say said that s/he was having trouble finding the information in her/his database. Re-think your quality standards and determine if you have too many standards, and if they fail to focus on what matters most to your customers. Consider if you are willing to empower and train your CSR's to think, act and personalize service to best accommodate the given situation, rather than follow the script strictly. If you can take this a step further train your CSR's to recognize the different communication styles of different customers. That done, they can adapt their personal style so they can best relate to the customer as an individual. CRM Today reports:

Companies spend thousands, if not millions of dollars each year to acquire new customers, yet sometimes they forget about how to best take care of the customers they already have.

The Sales Process

Sales take place either by 'Process' or by 'Accident'. An accident occurs when you were not expecting a sale, yet it happens. A Sales Process is a step-by-step procedure that is conducted for each prospect in order to get him/her into a position to buy from you. It is important to formally define and implement a Sales Process so that each sales representative performs at their most effective level, and increases their success. Once methodologies have been identified, decide the steps that need to be taken, and repeated, to move the process along the sales path toward a purchase. The sales process should include the methods for qualifying a prospect, listening to the prospect’s needs, analyzing alternatives, and presenting the appropriate solutions so the prospect is open to purchasing from you. Sales Training is vital if you want your sales team to follow the new processes and methodologies. First, you need to understand what your best sales practices are. This will let you select the right CRM process that reflects your best sales practices. Be sure you consider multiple vendors. Develop specifications and give them to the vendors. CRM Today reports:

The product you choose should grow and expand with your company and with your future plans. Thus, having a Sales Process and CRM strategy defined and documented at this stage will be critical so you know where you’ll want to be over time.

Online Presence for Services Marketing

Services marketing is increasingly headed online because clients and prospects are increasingly online. Studies indicate that nearly 40% adults with internet access researched products online before making buying decisions, and about 98% B2B buyers did the same. Service companies don't take online marketing seriously enough. Buyers are reading articles about you in online trade magazines, they are attending webinars, they read your white papers online, and expect to see online videos about you. Realize that most customers are looking at your website as a first step towards studying your service. Include online marketing in your business strategy. combine your direct response marketing and your brand marketing into one integrated experience. An online ad can directly lead the potential customer to your site, and they will instantly decide whether or not they like what they see - something that does not hapeen offline. CRM Today reports:

In your thank-you-for-registering email you invite them to a webinar (online seminar) your firm is presenting next week. They register online and attend, along with two colleagues…and the enticement into your firm and its services continues.

Differentiation In Era Three

Even as it gets increasingly difficult and expensive to create competitive differentiation through increasing uniqueness and complexity, it is of little use if that differentiation exceeds the needs and understanding of your customers. While you believe that you have a high-value product or service, if customers can't perceive that value, they respond by ignoring the features they do not need, or they will not bother. What you need to find out is this - does your customer understand and differentiate the unique value of your solution, and its importance to their their job performance? Also, do they understand what it will cost them if they do not use your solution? To be successful, firstly, acknowledge that we have entered into a new marketing era, and traditional practices will not necessarily bring success. There is no one single decision-maker for product / solution purchases today, and decisions are made by consent. So change your approach accordingly - connect your offer to each individual in the context of their job responsibilities and their self-interest. Since your customer's business is constantly evolving, you should constantly refine your value proposition in the light of that change. CRM Today reports:

When you come to an understanding of the requirements within an Era Three Market and focus on the customer's business situation and not on your own, your customers will start to recognize you as a unique and valuable partner.

Measuring Customer Satisfaction

Service organisations, more specifically telephony service providers, are focusing on the wrong Customer Service metrics. As a result, they concentrate on the wrong issues, and this affects service delivery. This is true for all parts of the organisation - right from the Contact Centre and Networks, through to the management of field engineers and customer complaints. This happens because the performance metrics based on call answer rate, average handling times and agent productivity provide efficiency data, but offer little value in determining the real level of Customer satisfaction with the transaction. Departmental based metrics, where each department individually measures performance do little to reflect customer satisfaction. That is why, performance metrics that measure the entire end-to-end process and therefore cross functionally should be introduced. This way, companies will know how customers perceive their performance. CRM Today reports:

Achieving satisfactory customer service in a company of any size depends on successfully managing processes and relationships within a number of distinct and separate departments. For example, the successful supply of service is dependent on Sales, Networks, Field Engineers and Billing all performing together and on time. Departmental metrics, based on individual service level agreements within these departments, may show a satisfactory level of service but the Customer may still be unhappy.

How Leader EQ Affects Team Performance

Support managers who have high levels of Emotional Intelligence (EI) make better leaders. This is because a leader with a high emotional quotient (EQ) impacts the entire team positively. Since emotions are contageous (ever spoken to an agitated person and seen how rapidly you start feeling agitated?), your mood and emotions set the pace for the whole group. If you manage your emotions well, the emotional climate of the work center will be positive. This fact becomes more significant in light of findings that indicate a 1% improvement in emotional climate creates a 2% increase in revenues. Managers must also keep in mind that employees often leave organizations after interactions with managers who did not manage their own emotions well and publically humiliated them or did not control anger. When trying to develop your EI, remember that it is a gradual process. You begin at the level of Self-Awareness (being aware of your own emotions), then move towards Self-Management (controlling your knee-jerk reactions to emotional triggers in your life). The next phase is Social Awareness (attuning to other’s emotions and acting accordingly), with Relationship Management (how we get along with others, how we handle conflict, how we influence and persuade others, how we consider the feelings of others as we interact with them) being the final step towards emotional maturity. CRM Today reports:

The competencies of Social Awareness include awareness of the mood of your group, empathy toward both your customers and your employees, political awareness of your organization as a whole, and an attitude of service.

Using the Voice of the Customer

We all know that training is the first aspect to be sacrificed when budgets need to be trimmed. However, this happens because its value is not apparant to management. You need to defend, measure and promote the value and calculate the ROI of training and make the case for it to management. One inexpensive method of training is the Voice of the Customer (VOC). Make sure you are documenting customer feedback immediately after the interaction via a post-call survey, since delay changes the response. Recording customer calls and relating them to feedback makes the training nees more apparent. Deliver feedback with CARE (clearly describe the behavior, address reactions to the behaior, realistic examples are provided, expected results are identified). Customers are willing and keen to help representatives improve their skills, when given a chance. The main concern customers express is the lack of warmth and empathy in the interaction. Lack of knowledge (and willingness to help) and lack of interest on the part of the customer representative are also concern areas. When this feedback is communicated to the representative in a non-judgemental manner and with clarity, it helps them improve their skills. As you use each step of the CARE model, you as the coach can be specific, non-judgmental, immediate, and leave the representative with a clear expectation of what to do differently. CRM Today reports:

The Voice of the Customer can be the most powerful element in your coaching program, if you allow it. With the VOC, you will be able to create the most effective coaching plans possible. Turning customer insights into actionable coaching plans is an emerging best practice that pays significant dividends.

Selecting the Right CRM Solution

Since the managers who are responsible for selecting the appropriate CRM technology for their organizations usually do not have technical backgrounds and do not fully understand the implications of selecting a particular technology, this task becomes a little complicated. Consider these points that can guide you towards selecting the appropriate technology for your needs:

• Is the technology in question in synch with the corporate goals and strategy of your organization?
• What would be ideally suitable for your current financial position and strategic goals - Web-based, Client side/ Hosted or on premise technology?
• What is your budget, and what is the Total Cost of Ownership (70% of the cost goes towards customization, integration, maintainance, deployment, training and upgrades)?
• Is the technology in question a scalable product and can it grow as you grow?
• What is the speed of deployment?
• Can the software be customized for your Business Needs?
• Can the software work with existing systems?
• What is the vendor's reputation in the market? Do you have information about the reliability of the product?

CRM Today reports:

If the CRM solution is too complicated or is deployed without proper training, users tend to not use the solution because they don't know how to use it. Don't be afraid to evaluate multiple vendors and CRM solutions until you find the best fit. Any CRM software vendor who really wants your business will offer a free trial or evaluation. This lets you integrate the software, test its features and determine if a solution will be used.

 

Multi-Channel Loyalty Programs

How can you promote the multi-channel loyalty among customers? First of all, remember that every single loyalty scheme need not operate across all channels. Channel mix shold depend on audience preferences. Studies show that less than a third of those companies that have loyalty schemes treat the customer consistently across all channels – mail, phone, Web, SMS and face-to-face. What this means is that these companies are undermining the value and return on investment from their loyalty schemes. The companies that were consistent across channels included credit card issuers, retailers and travel companies. CRM Today reports:

This means that they enable points earning and redemption to cover all customer activity, whether it is online, over the phone or in person. Interestingly, these sectors are all pioneers in loyalty management.

Alternate Opportunities in the CRM Market

Now that most large Organizations have opted, implemented and stabilized CRM applications and customized CRM functionality, what are the further opportunities available in CRM Market?

• Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is one such area. After a CRM solution is implemented, the next step is for the organization to focus on integrating it with other applications. Integrating diverse applications helps in sharing business critical data and helps improve business efficiency. This opportunity is suitable for Application to Application (A2A) and Business to Business (B2B) integration using EAI strategies such as Point to Point, Hub and Spoke and Distributed Messaging.

• Upgrading provides another opportunity wherein several large organizations that have heavily customized CRM solutions are looking for the latest versions of such applications.

• Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) offer another opportunity since they may not have yet implemented CRM solutions.

• Hosted solutions present another business opportunity; the target market being small organizations that have neither the capacity nor infrastructure to buy and implement CRM solution. CRM Today reports:

Redesign the wheel instead of Reinventing it – New Technology Architecture Changes like Service Oriented Architecture is requiring redesigning of the CRM solution architecture. This has opened up new market for Software Vendors and System Integrators.

Service Resolution Management

After trying out offshore call centers, several companies are now bringing service back to the U.S. Besides this affecting cost, other issues that can raise costs include the 20 percent call center growth per year and addressing the issue of abandoned calls when callers are not willing to wait longer than 65 seconds for their call to be taken. Other issues include agent-ability to get the right information to answer customer queries. Companies are now using technology that helps agents answer questions faster and more accurately. The components needed for customer service - business process management, knowledge management and search capabilities are now being brought together into a single solution that empowers agents of any skill level to successfully resolve inquiries. Service resolution management (SRM) allows companies to reduce resolution times across all channels, even for traditionally high-cost, human interactions. CRM Today reports:

Agents no longer need to switch between multiple systems or databases to meet customer demands. An integrated customer history allows agents to improve efficiencies resulting in a more than 80 percent first call resolution rate.

Survey Design Issues

How does surveying impact customer behavior? Customers’ desire to be acknowledged by the company is met to a large extent by surveys. Also, company recall in customers' minds is high for product choices, because the process of asking a consumer’s opinion allows them the opportunity to think about the company's products and